By RUTH TEICHROEB, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, September 14, 2003

A national forensic expert is urging the Kitsap County coroner to aggressively investigate the death of a Bremerton-area toddler, saying Alijah Tate was probably killed.

Rejecting the accidental-choking determination made by a local pathologist, Dr. Mary Case is convinced the infant died from an inflicted head injury.

Case, chief medical examiner in St. Louis County, Mo., and an expert in abuse-related child deaths, came to that conclusion after reviewing the autopsy report of the 1 1/2-year-old boy who died in September 1997.

"I wouldn't call this an accident," said Case, who examined Alijah's case at the request of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "Everything possible should be done (to investigate). It should be looked at by someone who knows what they are doing."

The autopsy indicated Alijah suffered a brain injury, called a subdural hematoma, that is typical of children who are abused, Case said.

That's also the position taken by Dr. Donald Reay, a former King County chief medical examiner, who told the P-I last year that he is "reasonably medically certain that this child was killed" and would consider the death a homicide.

Alijah's case was one of at least a dozen suspicious deaths of children in Washington since 1997 that were not investigated thoroughly by police or coroner's offices, a P-I series reported in November.

Kitsap County Coroner Greg Sandstrom previously dismissed Reay's concerns as "just a matter of opinion," but he said last week he would at least discuss the case with Case.

"If she's going to charge $1,000, I don't have that in my budget," Sandstrom said.

He has said that there's no point in pursuing evidence that would contradict the original cause of death determined by Kitsap County's privately contracted forensic pathologist, Dr. Emmanuel Lacsina.

Lacsina concluded that Alijah died after choking on mashed potatoes and vomiting. He attributed the brain injury to efforts by the mother's boyfriend to revive the child -- an explanation that Reay, and now Case, has said is implausible.

Sandstrom accepted Lacsina's findings and decided not to investigate further, even after Seattle child-abuse expert Dr. Ken Feldman examined Alijah's death and submitted a January 1998 report that said the child had been killed.

Feldman reviewed Alijah's death at the request of the boy's family physician, Dr. Mike Boyer, who also strongly disagreed with Lacsina's findings.

But Sandstrom said he trusted Lacsina's judgment, given that he handles all autopsies for Kitsap County. Besides, he said, any other forensic pathologist's report would be just a matter of opinion.

However, the P-I series prompted Sandstrom to pledge in December that he'd reopen the case and seek a written opinion from Reay. Sandstrom met with Reay in February but did not ask for the document or take further action.

That didn't surprise Reay, who said Kitsap County officials are reluctant to admit they bungled the investigation.

"We requested that they get a second opinion back then," Tate said. "What kind of coroner is he? Isn't it his job to investigate?"

The family is haunted by questions about what really happened to the boy.

"September's always kind of bad to get through because of what happened to him," Tate said. "I don't think you ever get over it. You just learn to live with it." She believes Alijah, who also suffered a fractured leg and bruised penis a few weeks before he died, was abused.

Alijah's father, Aaron Tate, said he doesn't understand how county officials can ignore the questions about his son's death.

"They don't care," he said. "I need to know what happened to him."

Alijah's mother, who married her boyfriend after the toddler's death, said she doesn't object to further investigation but has "moved on" and doesn't want to dwell on the tragedy.

Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge has said Sandstrom would have to change the cause of death before a criminal investigation could proceed.

By law, an elected coroner determines the official manner of death in all but six of Washington's 39 counties.

Two other suspicious child death cases were reopened after the P-I series uncovered flaws in those investigations.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jeremy Randolph examined the sudden death of 14-month-old Justin Champ in December 1998, which had never been reported to his office by police or the coroner.

No cause could be found for the child's death, although an autopsy found bruises on the toddler's head. Inconsistencies in police statements were also never pursued.

But Randolph, who has since tightened reporting protocols for unexpected deaths, said too much time had passed to pursue a criminal investigation given the unknown cause of Justin's death.

In another case, Spokane County Medical Examiner Sally Aiken reviewed the file of Brady Childers, a 9- month-old Oroville baby whose death in September 1997 was reported to the state as attributable to natural causes. The child was taken by air ambulance to a Spokane hospital, where he died.

An autopsy found unusual injuries, including a healing fractured rib and bruised testicle, which did not fit the explanations given by his mother and her boyfriend, Aiken said.

But the injuries were not fatal, and no cause could be found for the baby's cardiac arrest. His death was originally ruled undetermined, Aiken said. She did not know why the coroner in charge back then mistakenly reported the cause as pneumonia.

"Everyone who looked at this case agreed there was cause for concern," Aiken said. "A lot of cases have been tried with an 'undetermined' finding."

Okanogan County Prosecutor Cal Sloane said he couldn't win a conviction with an unknown cause of death.